Tabu on her two tough roles in her career!

1 years ago

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It is hard to imagine Maqbool or Astitva without Tabu, but the actor says many producers advised her against doing independent films (parallel cinema) as she already had a thriving career in commercial cinema.

“I liked doing films such as Vijaypath but I didn't want to let go meaty roles as well, as later it became my identity as an actor. But I was asked to refrain from it as producers felt that I already had a thriving commercial career. The perception was that when you don’t get success in commercial films, you move towards independent cinema but that wasn't the case with me,” the actor told PTI in an exclusive interview.

Tabu has an enviable body of work in the Indian cinema, making her one of the finest actors of her generation but she likes Mahesh Manjrekar’s Astitva, Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool and Nishikant Kamat’s Drishyam among her favourites.

Two of her most memorable portrayls have been Astitiva and Maqbool. She explains how they enriched her as an actresses.

Firstly, Astitva. “I wanted to do something nice and different. Within a few months he (Manjrekar) came with Astitva and was hopeful that I wouldn't say no to it.” Tabu believes few actors get such a chance to play a character like Aditi Pandit, a woman that decides to walk out on her husband after the lines between loyalty and affair begin to shake up the boundaries of marriage in her mind.

Interestingly, her character in Maqbool, the second film listed out as a favourite, also has sexual undertones. In the film, based on William Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, Tabu played lady Macbeth’s part, that exuberates her charm to get her man , a notorious underworld don, killed by Maqbool (Irrfan Khan). Tabu says she was bowled over by the script of Maqbool, and although she did not identify with her role of Nimmi, she took it as the “beginning of a reformed phase” for her as an actor. “She wasgutsy and a vulnerable woman and we unapologetically highlighted her lust. I don’t know whether we can label her as strong or negative. I don’t know why I understood her character,” Tabu says.

Calling them as two of the most difficult characters she has played in recent times, Tabu says, “I had a tough time balancing both the shades. The beauty exists in the writing of this film. My characters have been so complex. I don’t know if they really existed in real life. I am sure there were some impressions that we would see here and there,” she concludes.